The Record-Review – The official newspaper of Bedford and Pound Ridge, New York

February 18, 2011

SPORTS

Bostwick’s seven points lead Jay to rout of Foxes

SCOTT MULLIN PHOTO

Dominic Bastone was forced into action for Fox Lane against rival John Jay when starting goalie Conor Bunyan was unable to play because of an illness.

By KEN KOSTIK

Frazier Bostwick scored twice and added five assists to lead John Jay to a 13-6 win over rival Fox Lane in the Foxes’ annual John McLaughlin Memorial Game on Feb. 10 at the Brewster Ice Arena. The game honors the legacy of the man who started the Fox Lane ice hockey program back in 1999. In that inaugural 1999-2000 season, McLaughlin coached the Foxes to the League 3 championship. Sadly, he was diagnosed with cancer during that season and succumbed to the disease shortly after.

Since then, the McLaughlin family has maintained strong ties to the program, with son Liam a member of the Foxes’ sectional title-winning teams in 2003 and 2004, and today with son John serving on head coach Charles Berger’s staff as an assistant coach.

On this night in Brewster, it was all John Jay from start to finish.

Playing without starting goalie Conor Bunyan and forward Chris Stanley, both out because of illness, and with standout forward Donny Castaldo a coach’s scratch from the lineup, the Foxes simply did not match up with the Indians, whom they handed a 5-2 defeat earlier this season back on Dec. 17.

At this late stage of the season when every win and point in the standings is vital to maintaining or improving a team’s seed for the postseason playoffs, this victory was certainly a shot in the arm for the Indians.

“It’s an important two points,” said John Jay head coach Alex Smith. “At this part of the season, every two points is important. A win certainly helps with the seedings.”

He continued, “We’ll find out where the chips fall when all is said and done because a lot goes into that seeding formula, but we were hoping for a win tonight and we got one.”

Smith added, “I actually knew coach McLaughlin and I actually coached against him back in the day. They have a class program over there.”

Bostwick opened the night’s scoring on the power play just 3:12 into the contest when he finished off a three-way passing play that included Mark Leprine and Dan Wertz and blasted a shot from the left faceoff circle over Fox Lane goalie Dom Bastone’s left shoulder.

The Indians then kept the pressure on Bastone and his defense for the remainder of the opening period.

It became 2-0 when Mike Skalaski wristed a shot home just 1:08 later.

John Jay increased their advantage to 4-0 on goals by Vincent Riocci and Jack Grimm later in the stanza, Grimm’s being a shorthanded tally with 4:45 left in the frame.

Although badly outplayed and outshot 13-6 in the first period, Fox Lane managed to close to within 4-1 when Joe Corsi netted the first of his two goals on the night with 1:57 remaining.

“I was pleased with our start today,” Smith explained. “We’ve had a history of slow starts, so this was a very good first period for us, but then it seemed to get out of control. But a win is a win and we’ll go forward from here.”

The game then turned wide open over the last two periods with end-to-end action and numerous odd-man rushes for both teams.

“It got so wide open, so wide open,” said Smith. “It got all helter skelter, I don’t know where to begin, but it sure got fast-paced.”

He added, “There were lots of goals and lots of odd-man rushes. It sure was interesting hockey.”

Riocci scored his second of the evening only 52 seconds into the middle period to give the Indians a 5-1 lead. The advantage grew to 8-1 as Dan Wertz, Jeremy Morowitz and Alec Lalone beat Bastone, the final goal of that flurry coming with 4:52 remaining in the session.

Fox Lane made a brief run with consecutive goals just 20 seconds apart. First, Andrew Bunyan deflected a shot from the left point by Gib Mitchell behind Indians’ goalie Jake Petrillo. Then, with 2:01 left in the stanza, Harry Woodhull converted a feed from Josh Wollman to make it a 9-3 game.

However, just 43 seconds later, Grimm scored his second of the game after he swiped the puck at the red line and broke in all alone on Bastone. The second-period scoring, though, still was not done, Corsi scoring his second of the game, this one with only seven seconds remaining before the buzzer, a shorthanded tally, to bring the Foxes within 9-4 heading into the final stanza.

After seeing five goals scored in the opening period and eight more in the middle session, the two teams combined to light the lamp six more times in the final frame.

Blaze Vogliano took advantage of a giveaway in their own end by the John Jay defense and got Fox Lane within 9-5 with 10:29 left to play.

John Jay answered with a power play goal by Bostwick with 7:05 remaining, then got tallies from Dan Killea and Connor Moore to make it a 12-5 game with 2:43 left. Wollman go one back for the Foxes on the power play with 33 seconds left, but, staying with this game’s script, Thomas Blaney snuck one last one in for the Indians, this one coming with 14 ticks remaining, to close out the evening’s scoring barrage.

“I thought that Dom did a nice job,” Fox Lane head coach Charles Berger said of Bastone, who finished the night with 25 saves. “He works so hard. He came out to work with us because he wanted to get in better shape for lacrosse and because he had heard that we needed a backup goalie. I thought we hung him out to dry a lot tonight. He asked him to stop the first shot, and I think about 95 percent of the time he did just that tonight.”

John Jay outshot Fox Lane 38-21 for the game. Petrillo recorded 15 saves in goal and picked up the win for the Indians.

Fox Lane had eight power-play chances in the game and converted on two of them, while John Jay was 2 for 3 with the extra man.

The loss may come back to haunt the Foxes, who were battling for seeding position with John Jay for the upcoming Section I/Division 2 playoffs.

“When it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter where you are in the seeding because to be the best, you have to play and beat the best,” explained Berger. “If you want to win the section, it doesn’t matter where you are seeded, because you just have to win. We don’t care who we have to go through, it has to get done.”

Grimm tacked on two assists to his two goals to finish the night with four points for the Indians, while Dan Wertz also had a four-point night, his coming on a goal and a trio of assists.

Leprine notched three assists for John Jay, while Blaney and Lalone each had an assist to go with a goal for a two-point evening. Shawn Smith and Jack Wertz each had an assist for the Indians. For Fox Lane, Wollman had two assists and a goal for a three-point outing, while Doug Eisman had a pair of assists. Bastone, Mitchell and Vin Maggio had one assist apiece for the Foxes.

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